Station history
WPRT callsign history
Originally, WPRT was the call sign for the now-defunct 105.5 FM in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, and was the "sister" station to WPRT (960 AM) in Prestonsburg. Today while WPRT still exists, its former "sister" station moved to 105.3 FM and now uses the call sign WXKZ and is owned by Gearheart Communications in Harold, Kentucky, and broadcasts an oldies format.
Early years
The station began its life as WDKN-FM in Dickson, Tennessee, to which it was licensed and where it simulcast that small-town station's community-oriented format. When the station began to involve the Nashville market, its transmitter was moved to Bellsburg, Tennessee, on the Dickson County-Cheatham County line and hence closer to Nashville. Later, the call letters were changed to WQZQ. For several years before 1996, the station broadcast a satellite-based classic rock format under the moniker Q102. From 1996 to 2005, the station broadcast a Top 40 format called 102.5 The Party.
In 2005, when the station was relaunched as Venus 102-5 FM, it had to make a special request to obtain the WVNS-FM call letters. Per FCC regulations, they were required permission from WVNS-TV in Bluefield/Beckley, West Virginia, which they received. The "Venus" moniker, however, lasted less than a year before changing to "V102-5". On weekdays, V102-5 ran a live, local hot adult contemporary format. However, on weekends, the station ran Jones Radio Network's Hot AC satellite format.
Stunt formats (August 2008)
On Tuesday, August 26, 2008, WVNS began stunting with teaser formats devoting to just one recording artist, starting with "102.5 Frank FM. All Frank, All the Time" playing nothing but songs featuring Frank Sinatra. Then on August 27, it went from an all-Sinatra format to an all-Led Zeppelin format, featuring music from the legendary British rock group. This was followed on an all-Garth Brooks format on August 28, then finally on August 29, the format was changed to television theme songs, which lasted until 12 noon (CDT). The last song played was the appropriately titled "Welcome Back" by John Sebastian.
Return to Top 40 (2008-2011)
At noon on August 29, 2008, the station brought back the rhythmic-leaning CHR format to the Nashville airwaves, launching with Nelly's "Party People". Kidd Kraddick's syndicated program Kidd Kraddick In The Morning was featured in the morning drive until March 2010. The station changed its call letters to WPRT-FM to match the "Party" handle.
In 2009, WPRT began to add more rhythmic pop titles to its playlist, and by June shifted directions to rhythmic top 40, thus resulting in Mediabase and Nielsen BDS moving the station to their respective rhythmic reporting panels the following July, even though non-rhythmic flavored pop artists like Taylor Swift were still also played, a trend that other rhythmics on the panel (like KLUC-FM in Las Vegas and WJFX in Fort Wayne) were also doing due to a changing taste among listeners. Because of its rhythmic direction, WPRT now took on urban contemporary rival WUBT and mainstream top 40 rivals WRVW and WNFN.
On May 24, 2011, WPRT-FM changed its format to hot AC, still branded as "The Party".
Conversion to sports
On August 15, 2011, it was confirmed that WPRT would switch to a sports format. Adopting the new moniker "102-5 The Game", the format change took effect on Monday, August 29, 2011, at 6 AM, following a weekend of stunting of construction sounds, Nashville Predators highlights, and a loop for several hours of the closing chorus of "The Party's Over" by Journey. The station took over flagship status for the Predators after a one-year stint on sister-station 102.9 The Buzz.[2] Upon its format change, the station announced it would become a primary affiliate of ESPN Radio six weeks after launch. This delay was due to ESPN Radio exercising an eight-week exit clause (executed two weeks prior to launch) in the contract with secondary affiliate WGFX-FM.[3] Upon assumption of the affiliation, WPRT-FM began to carry various ESPN Radio programming including The Herd with Colin Cowherd, SVP & Russillo, and SportsCenter Nightly.
In 2012, WPRT-FM became the new flagship for the Pacific Coast League's Nashville Sounds. On July 23 of that year, longtime Nashville sports radio personality George Plaster returned to the Nashville airwaves with the revival of his long-running afternoon drive-time talk show, SportsNight, leaving in August 2016 to become associate Athletic Director at Belmont University.
To improve its coverage in the eastern portion of the Nashville market, the station was simulcast over W271AB, a translator located in La Vergne, Tennessee. The simulcast ended on February 5, 2013, when W271AB switched to a simulcast of WPRT-HD2, with a gospel format, branded as "The Light". In May 2017, following a stunt loop for several days of "Macarena" by Los Del Rio, the HD2 sub-channel and translator changed their format to urban oldies, branded as "102.1 The Ville". This format would shift to urban adult contemporary in January 2023, coinciding with their addition of the Rickey Smiley Morning Show.[4][5]
WPRT-FM formerly served as the flagship station for the nationally syndicated talk show, The Dave Ramsey Show, hosted by Dave Ramsey. The Dave Ramsey Show aired on 99.7 WWTN for over the previous 20 years before moving to WPRT-FM in January 2013.[6] Management and staff of WPRT-FM and Dave Ramsey rapidly decided that his show would be more format-appropriate on a talk station than on a sports station, so WPRT-FM announced that it would discontinue The Dave Ramsey Show. The last show aired on WPRT-FM on December 31, 2013. Dave Ramsey moved to WLAC the next day.
WPRT-FM has served as the flagship station for the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders since the 2013 college football season.
On January 1, 2014, W235BW, a new translator at 94.9 MHz, was launched as The Game 2 (simulcasting programming from WQZQ), later re-named "94-9 the Fan." It serves as an overflow for 102.5 as well as the local Fox Sports Radio affiliate. It is also the home of Lipscomb Bisons basketball.
On March 5, 2014, WPRT-FM's transmitter site was struck by lightning during a severe thunderstorm in the area and therefore was reduced to limited power. The transmitter site was fully restored and the station returned to broadcasting at full power on June 2, 2014. In 2016, the station launched an additional translator, W210CD, which is licensed in Hendersonville, Tennessee, broadcasting at 89.9 megahertz.